Animal shelters
Animal shelters
I can across this on another site and thought to share it with my HUBGFE friends.
Do you want an honest answer, or are you looking for an arbitrary placeholder for all the blame?
If you want a real answer, it is people like myself. I'm an honor's graduate with a B.S. in Biology, and when I'm not at work you can find me studying for the GRE and prepping my application to Texas A&M's DVM program.
I've spent the last year and a half pushing for a veterinary position at my shelter, so that I can return where I feel I would be needed most.
On a daily basis, we clean up after the animals, feed them, take their pictures, vaccinate, medicate, socialize, etc. For every cute puppy or kitten we adopt out, we usually find ourselves getting two in return.
Whether its a stray off the streets, or some heartless chode that decided their dog of 5+ years doesn't "fit" with their lifestyle anymore. No matter how hard we try, we grow attached. To some, we attach more than others.
Euthanasia is a necessary evil. Space isn't limitless, and even if it was, who would pay for all of the animals? I'm just sure our fellow Texans are salivating at the thought of increased taxes, especially for taking care of feral cats and breeds that have been labelled violent by a very ignorant public (i.e. pit-bulls).
It doesn't matter how hard you steel yourself, or how long you've been doing the job. You never get used to it, and you never grow completely numb. Imagine getting 12 cats in the span of a single day, and having to pick the 12 that have to die so there is enough room to accommodate them. I've stopped eating for days. I've cried myself to sleep. I've grown very disgusted with my fellow man.
Now on top of all that, imagine doing the job and running into disdainful assholes every single day. People that scoff at your profession as if it's nothing more than playing dog-catcher. Well-wishers that stand on pedestals moaning about how cruel it all is, but offering nothing more than hot air when it comes to real answers to a very real problem.
My personal favorites are the "animal lovers" that fall over themselves to rescue the yorkshire terriers and miniature pinschers that occasionally trickle into the shelter, but never seem to notice the 2+ year old mutt in the adjacent cage that is just as sweet, if not more so than the other dog that has a crowd of willing adopters and a guaranteed ticket out the door.
That reminds me, let us not forget about the pool of dimwits that only support no-kill shelters, and continually ask why the municipal shelter you work at isn't no-kill as if it were as simple as flipping a fucking switch.
(Protip: It's easy to label yourself no-kill when you can pick and choose what comes in, and shut your doors on a whim)
Educated, tired, but steadfastly devoted people very tired of that question.
